Large merchandising enterprises such as regional, national or global retailers and suppliers of various goods are better able to leverage the advantages provided by their size when they are able to promote uniformity and consistency at the individual retail outlet level. In general, a retail outlet or store as used herein is a physical location where transactions occur between the customer and the enterprise. Stores may be subdivided into smaller sections or departments to more effectively control and track their revenues and expenses. Examples of departments for a typical large store or what is typically called a superstore may include a men's clothing department, women's clothing department, toy department, consumer electronics department, grocery department, meat department, pharmacy department, furniture department and the like. Examples of departments within a typical grocery store can include the meat department, pharmacy department, grocery department and the like.
An enterprise can be a number or collection of stores that may be grouped by geographical or corporate characteristics, such as divisions. A division can be a subset of stores within an enterprise. Divisions may be defined by geographical location, type of store, e.g. a convenience store or a superstore, or demographics, e.g. rural, urban or suburban. Individual stores may vary in size, geographic region and consumer demographics; however, groups of stores or departments may appear virtually identical. It is difficult to promote uniformity when dealing with a large diverse enterprise. One method of promoting uniformity is to identify areas of commonality and to promote consistency within those areas. In particular, one area in which significant benefits may be obtained through consistency is the uniform arrangement of items on store shelves and uniformity in how these items are stocked within the stores.
Inconsistent item management can waste time and money. For example, it takes a significant amount of time simply to gather the relevant item and stocking information during store inventories. Generally large groups of employees are gathered specifically for the purpose of conducting an inventory and these inventories are ordinarily during non-typical work hours. Additionally, in the context of a retail store, a planogram may contain information or a graphical depiction of the items and how they are arranged on a particular or discrete store shelf. It is extremely inefficient for each store manager of each individual store within a large enterprise to create and manage planograms for each section of their own stores. This would require managers of new stores to spend vast amounts of time mapping out the arrangement of items for their new store. Additionally, numerous changes often occur regarding the particular items being handled by the large retail enterprise. For example, new items are continually introduced and existing items continually change their packaging size, shape and marketing, often with each seasonal change. Large amounts of time can be wasted when each store manager in the enterprise must update their own individual planograms to reflect such changes and often the desired uniformity between stores is lost.
A lack of uniformity between stores within the same enterprise can be irritating to some customers. Most customers prefer consistency when dealing with large retail enterprises. Customers find it easier to locate items in stores that use uniform shelf stocking plans throughout the enterprise because they become more familiar with the layouts and patterns of the stores. For example, a customer of a particular neighborhood grocery store may become familiar with the location of their favorite items. When that customer utilizes another grocery store within the same enterprise they expect similarities in locations of items whether the store is across town or across the country. This is especially true when stores have the same name. By the same token if customers are forced to learn new layouts or patterns in each store within an enterprise, they may become irritated or confused.
There exists a need for a system and method of maintaining a set of planograms at an enterprise wide level to promote uniformity and efficiency amongst all the stores within the enterprise. Once preferred, effective planograms are developed by the enterprise, there is a need for an efficient manner of making these planograms accessible to each store manager throughout the enterprise. There is a further need for a method of organizing a set of planograms designed for different store types and sizes, for example, large superstores versus smaller grocery stores. A large superstore may include departments such as a toy department or floral department that may not be included in a smaller grocery store. Such a method should provide store level, division level or enterprise level managers with the discretion to select the most appropriate planograms available for the individual store based upon numerous characteristics such as size, type, consumer demographics and geographical location.
Even when a set of individual or discrete planograms are selected there is a need for a method of organizing and compiling the selected planograms to define an entire collection of planograms organized within a specified space such as is depicted within a store. Store managers need the ability to select and combine existing planograms to create a map describing shelf management for the entire store. Division or enterprise level managers need a method for monitoring store compliance with the preferred planograms. What is needed is a centrally managed system and method for handling store planograms that would provide such invaluable operational, financial and marketing information for everyone in the enterprise.